I’m going to lay off of the rest of this discussion so as to not reveal my complete ignorance, but I’d just like to point out that I think it was implied that all the freaks in the movie were likely from lands the Persians conquered (since they had taken over most of the known world), as opposed to being Persian themselves.

Originally posted by spfI think perhaps here is the crux of our argument, because my answer is none whatsoever. A film is just a film. Whether that film is "Philadelphia", "Triumph of the Will", "300", "Death Wish", or "Debbie Does Dallas". You come to the art as you are, and you leave impacted in a unique way depending on your own experiences with the world.

This is a very post-modern point of view.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not all points of view are created equal. I'm not arguing that you shouldn't have enjoyed this movie (or that enjoying the movie somehow makes you a "bad" person), but enjoyment alone does not make it a "good" movie. That's all I am saying.

I guess you're arguing that people go to movies to detach and not think about the broader context of a film, then if the film serves that purpose it's a good movie. If that's the most one expects, then I can't really argue that point - but I do think it's a huge waste of the medium.

Originally posted by spfI think perhaps here is the crux of our argument, because my answer is none whatsoever. A film is just a film. Whether that film is "Philadelphia", "Triumph of the Will", "300", "Death Wish", or "Debbie Does Dallas". You come to the art as you are, and you leave impacted in a unique way depending on your own experiences with the world.

This is a very post-modern point of view.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not all points of view are created equal. I'm not arguing that you shouldn't have enjoyed this movie (or that enjoying the movie somehow makes you a "bad" person), but enjoyment alone does not make it a "good" movie. That's all I am saying.

I guess you're arguing that people go to movies to detach and not think about the broader context of a film, then if the film serves that purpose it's a good movie. If that's the most one expects, then I can't really argue that point - but I do think it's a huge waste of the medium.

I think you've summed it up perfectly. The two big guns in this discussion are far wiser than I am, simple man, simple pleasures I guess.

This reminds me of a talk I had with a friend a few months ago, she is a FAR left winger doing the whole "Bush is the Devil" spiel. Everything that happens in this world has to be viewed in context. Case in point, I'm Cuban. So when people tell me how great JFK was as President, I laugh. In my culture, he is a coward. His cowardice has cost my family deaths, inprisonments, and suffering. Did he do great things over here? I'm sure he did. Did they effect me directly? No, so I really don't care. President Truman...he killed over 200,000. I'm glad he did, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation. Does that make me a bad person? Maybe, but I'm glad I have the priveledge of being able to speak my mind here in the good ole U S of A.

Which brings me back to this discussion. hogansmydad came across as someone with an agenda. Someone trying to make me feel bad about enjoying 300. Did I for a second even notice that the slow motion deaths were all of black Persians? Nope, not the first time I saw it, not the second time at an IMAX screen, not the next time I take my dad to see it either. But I guess that the rub isn't it. I don't go into a film looking for things to hate.

I guess that's why I watch Cannonball Run at least once a month, BECAUSE IT MAKES ME LAUGH! But I'm sure you'd get all bent out of shape at Jamie Farr's depiction of an arab...sigh.

Having seen the "horrible, aborted, show" it was not all that bad. I'd probably have given it a season to work out the bugs before deciding whether to drop it. Then again, I was a fan of the idea from day one.